


Acceleration

by SailorChibi



Series: wanda's curse verse [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Bucky Barnes Has PTSD, Divorce, Gen, Handwavy Science, Ignores Civil War, No Endgame Spoilers, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Not Wanda Friendly, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological issues, Tags Subject to Change, Talk of Mind Control, The New Avengers - Freeform, Therapy, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Vision (Marvel) Feels, author is not a therapist, charles xavier may make a cameo appearance, dealing with the after effects of mind control, handwavy pschology, hope van dyne as an avenger, ignores infinity war, not wanda maximoff friendly, peter parker really wants to be an avenger, peter parker thinks tony stark is the coolest thing alive, protection from mind control, sam wilson is just done with the world, scott lang as an avenger, sharon carter as an avenger, stephen strange may make a cameo appearance, steve rogers needs a lesson in boundaries, steve rogers tries too hard, talk of brainwashing, talk of divorce, tony stark is a good person, tony stark is just so tired, very wanda critical, wanda maximoff is a selfish bitch, wanda maximoff is a sociopath, when will everyone stop piling their problems onto him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-05-16 05:07:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19311241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorChibi/pseuds/SailorChibi
Summary: On top of talking to the handful of potential new recruits selected for the Avengers, Tony is busy trying to deal with... well, everything. Steve is desperate to prove he's sorry, and Wanda's interview has definitely stirred the pot, but the shit hasn't really hit the fan just yet...But it's only a matter of time.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Commissioned for part #6 in the curse verse. Here we go.

Peter Parker was sixteen-years-old, young and fresh-faced and excited and basically just everything that Tony was scared of. So why he was sitting on a couch talking to May Parker then, was really beyond Tony – except that if he refused to come, or made excuses about being too busy, Coulson had made it clear that either he or someone else from SHIELD was going to have a chat with Peter.

And the only thing worse than Tony being here to have this conversation would be unleashing Coulson on an unsuspecting teenager and his aunt. It was hard to say who’d come out of that the winner.

“So you want to offer Peter an internship?” May asked, refilling his cup of coffee.

Tony nodded. “That’s right. If you think that’s something he’d be interested in, of course.” He widened his eyes innocently, well aware that Peter was probably going to jump at the chance once Tony explained what the ‘internship’ really involved. 

“Absolutely!” May said, smiling. “Peter loves science and he talks about Stark Industries and Iron Man constantly. He’s always following the news about what you do, Mr. Stark. And his grades are top notch.” She picked up her coffee cup and sipped. “He’s even talked about wanting to get a scholarship to MIT.”

“That’s an excellent school,” Tony said politely. He’d done his research on Peter Parker; he already knew everything that May was saying. But he was content to let her prattle on for several minutes, practically glowing as she talked about her nephew. It was blatantly obvious she was incredibly proud of him, and she didn’t even know that Peter was Spider-Man. She would probably combust from sheer pride if she knew… not that he was about to tell her. 

The door opened behind them and Peter walked in. The kid looked like a gaping fish as his wide eyes flicked between his aunt and Tony, and his eyes looked like they were going to fall out of his head when May mentioned an internship. Tony was having a hard time hiding his smile as he asked for a moment alone with Peter, which May gladly granted. A dumbfounded Peter led the way to his room and Tony followed, gently closing the door behind him. He activated an anti-eavesdropping barrier and then turned to Peter.

“This is the coolest moment of my life,” Peter blurted out before Tony could say a word, and Tony laughed.

“You only think that way because you don’t know what’s coming,” he said. “I know you’re Spider-Man.”

The smile slid off of Peter’s face remarkably fast. His shoulders tensed and he darted a look at the window, then at the door behind Tony. It was obvious what his thought process was: he wanted to escape, but he also didn’t want to leave his innocent and defenseless aunt behind. Tony’s level of respect for the kid rose considerably and he smiled, stepping away from the door.

“Relax, Kid. I’m not here to out you. I get the whole secret identity shtick. I really am here to offer you an internship… but a considerably more awesome one than what I’ve led your aunt to believe.”

Peter’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“I want to teach you how to be a superhero,” Tony said. It sounded gimmicky and dumb, but clearly Peter didn’t think so judging by his dropped jaw. “SHIELD has been keeping tabs on Spider-Man for a while now. They’ve actually talked to me about approaching you, but I said I wanted to do it first. I’m not that great of a teacher, but I can promise that you’ll get way cooler toys if you hang out with me.”

“Toys?” Peter asked, looking very interested, and Tony nodded.

“Gadgets, maybe a new suit,” he said nonchalantly. He couldn’t have any kid superheroes running around in the equivalent of sweats. That just wasn’t on. “Obviously, you’re young. And I’d prefer that you wait until you’re of legal age to put yourself in danger –”

“I can’t do that.” The excitement drained away, leaving something somber and hard behind. “I’ve seen what happens when people who have powers don’t do anything. Good people… _innocent_ people… can get hurt. I don’t want that to happen to anyone else if I could’ve stopped it.”

There was definitely a story there, though Tony knew better than to push for more details right now. “That’s fair. You’ll get training. We’ll experiment with your powers. Figure out what you can and can’t do, so you’ll have a more accurate idea of what you’re capable of if you ever went into battle. You’ll meet the other Avengers. You’ll have a team to call on when you need help, so you won’t have to go at it solo anymore.”

“The other Avengers? You mean Captain America?” Peter asked. Tony grimaced.

“Uh, no. Cap is benched right now. I’m sure you’ve seen the news,” Tony said, as delicately as he could. It had been about a week since Wanda’s interview. He wouldn’t exactly say that the shit had hit the fan, because it could get so much worse, but the interview had definitely stirred things up.

Wanda had been heavily criticized for her claims that Xavier’s Institute was like a prison. The Avengers team had come under fire for allowing Wanda out in the field when she wasn’t completely trained and didn’t have control of her powers – Coulson and SHIELD were handling that one. Public opinion seemed to be divided about whether they’d have the right to bind Wanda’s powers away.

Then there was Tony. As expected, there had been some backlash against him. The whole point of Wanda’s interview had been about villifying Tony as much as possible. The Ultron matter was already settled, but he knew for a fact that there were people looking into the bomb that had killed Wanda’s parents. Just like he knew that there were people looking for more information about Wanda’s past. It was only a matter of time until all of those secrets came out and any pity or compassion for Wanda Maximoff dried up.

Tony just had to grit his teeth and bear it until then. He was used to looking like the bad guy in the eyes of the media, but it never got any easier to bear. Especially in a case like this. Sometimes he had to bite his tongue to keep himself quiet about all the things that Wanda had done. Would they still think she was so innocent if they knew she’d played a part in Ultron? That she’d _helped_ Ultron until she switched sides to save her own skin?

He couldn’t wait to find out.

“Yeah, I’ve been keeping up with it as best I can. But you can’t always believe what the news says either,” Peter said.

“I’m glad to hear you say that, because you’re absolutely right,” Tony said. “In this case, they’re actually right about that. I’m actively searching for new Avengers to fill the roster.”

“Am I going to be an Avenger?” Peter’s eyes lit up. Tony regretfully shook his head.

“Not yet. You’re too young. But when you get older, if you want to,” he said. “Right now, once you get some training you’d be more like a reserve member. Only called in when shit is really going down and we need all hands on deck, which hopefully won’t be anytime soon.”

“I totally want to,” Peter said emphatically.

Tony smiled. It was nice to remember what it was like when he was just starting out and being a superhero was actually fun. “Great. I’ve told your aunt it’s a more traditional internship. Why don’t you come by Stark Tower tomorrow and we can discuss the details?”

Peter nodded, looking a little star struck, and followed Tony out of the living room. Tony produced a contract for May to look over, told Peter to bring it by the tower when he came tomorrow, and swept out of the little apartment as fast as he’d come. The door had barely closed behind before he heard the unmistakable sound of a teenager letting out a screech of pure joy.

He jogged down the steps and out to the car, opening the door and sliding into the passenger seat before anyone could catch sigh of him and make a big deal – Peter’s internship would come to light sooner or later, but Tony much preferred it to be later. Bucky looked over at him, pushing his sunglasses down his nose. He was dressed casually today in jeans and a light blue sweater, hair pulled back in a bun. 

“So the kid is coming by tomorrow?” he said.

“You don’t even know if he said yes,” Tony said.

Bucky raised an eyebrow. “Tony. Don’t be stupid. Of course he said yes. It’s an opportunity to spend time with Iron Man, one of the greatest superheroes that ever lived.”

Tony’s face grew warm. “Okay, fine, he said yes,” he mumbled, putting his own sunglasses on. “I told his aunt it was a regular internship and… I dunno, Buck. It just feels so skeevy to be lying about it. Like I’m the proverbial predator with candy hanging around in white vans.”

“You’re not a predator,” Bucky said, exasperated. “You’re going to keep the kid alive. Didn’t you tell me there’s been a couple times where Spider-Man almost got himself killed?”

“Yeah,” Tony admitted. The footage of those times had almost given him a heart attack, and were part of what had finally pushed Tony to approach Peter rather than continuing to leave the kid to deal with small-time criminals. Well, that and Coulson thought Spider-Man would someday make an excellent Avenger – or a SHIELD agent. There was no way Tony could in good faith leave a teenager to fall into SHIELD’s greedy hands. 

Plus, he really did think that it was sort of inevitable that Peter would get caught up in something that was too big for him to handle. That’s what happened when you were a superhero. It was important that the kid had people to reach out to for support. Tony would never forget waking up in Tennessee and realizing that he literally had no one except for Rhodey that he could call for help. It was _not_ a good feeling.

He leaned back against the car seat and sighed, feeling weary down to his bones. When he’d retired from the Avengers, he’d done so with the thought that he wouldn’t have to worry about stuff like this anymore. It had hurt, but at the same time there had been a certain amount of freedom that came with not having to answer to the team. He’d never expected that he would end up being dragged right back in. 

But with Steve, Natasha, Clint and Sam benched, the team was a mess. Technically Tony, Bucky, Rhodey and Vision weren’t officially ready for the field, as none of them had received permission from their therapist. They had to fill the holes on the team up quickly, but that was easier said than done. It wasn’t like there were a ton of superheroes out there jumping to join the Avengers team. Peter wasn’t the only person Tony would be talking to.

When you piled everything together, and added all the emotional stress that went along with trying to cope with the shit Wanda had pulled, it was just way more work than Tony was prepared for.

“Hey,” Bucky said quietly. “You got this, okay? You’re doing good, Tony. Really good.”

Tony opened his eyes and looked over at Bucky. “Thanks,” he said quietly.

Bucky shot him a smile and started the car. “How about we stop for supper on the way back? We can go to that diner I like.”

“You mean the one that makes you fart non-stop? No thanks.”

“Rude,” Bucky said, smirking.

“I’m the one who has to smell you. It’s not rude at all. I’m trying to save myself a death by toxic fumes.”

Bucky snorted, trying not to laugh, and said, “What if I promise to drive with the windows down?”

“Still not sure it’s worth it,” Tony muttered, but relented. “Alright, fine. But we can’t be back too late. I promised Rhodey we could go to a movie tonight.” That was a lie. What he really had to do tonight was finish off Bucky’s arm. But Bucky couldn’t know that because Tony wanted it to be a surprise. Bucky had no idea how close Tony was to completing it. He couldn’t wait to see the look on Bucky’s face.

“Traffic’s not too bad. We’ve got plenty of time.” Bucky pulled out onto the road.


	2. Chapter 2

“Running final calibration. 60%.”

“Any issues?” Tony asked.

“None yet,” said FRIDAY.

“Good. Keep going.” Tony turned away from the hologram and looked down at his desk. His stomach was churning, somewhere between apprehension and excitement, and it was almost enough to make him feel sick. But he didn’t care. He’d been waiting for this moment for a long time. 

It had taken the better part of a month, with Tony devoting every spare second of his time to the project, but he had finally done it. The arm on the table was nothing short of a technological marvel. Made from a mixture of metals, the arm was definitely some of Tony’s best work yet. He’d done a hell of a lot of research and talked to countless people to make it work. He wanted Bucky to have the best.

The arm was physically proportionate to Bucky’s flesh arm, so that it wouldn’t stick out or make Bucky looked lopsided. Instead of being bright silver, it was coppery bronze color thanks to a couple of the metals he’d used. Tony had the feeling that Bucky wouldn’t mind. And if he did, it would be easy enough to create a synthetic, flesh-toned material to cover up the arm. Hell, he could do that anyway if Bucky wanted it.

He’d purposely calibrated the weight so that it wouldn’t be as heavy, after noticing that the old arm weighed enough to cause strain to Bucky’s chest and shoulder. This one weighed less, but was stronger thanks to the materials used to create it. It also had temperature sensitivity, so it would warm and cool with Bucky’s body temperature. The wires inside were purposefully strong, with solid connectors.

Because Tony suspected, but couldn’t prove, that Hydra might’ve done a shitty job of the arm’s wires on purpose. By doing so, they could ensure that the Winter Soldier would always have to rely on them. Even if the Soldier had somehow managed to escape before now, the old arm had been purposefully engineered to cause him an incredible amount of pain without frequent maintenance. Short of pulling the arm off, which in itself would be ridiculously painful, the Soldier would’ve been trapped.

Fortunately, Hydra had never counted on Tony Stark.

He smiled to himself with grim satisfaction as the scan reached 100% and turned green to indicate success. He had done every scan and test he could think of and the arm had passed all of them. Naturally, there would still be bugs and things to work out: that was normal with anything new, particularly something like this that was unprecedented. But Tony was willing to bet Bucky would be more than happy to play guinea pig.

“Everything looks good, Boss,” FRIDAY announced. “Shall I call Bucky down?”

“Yes, go ahead,” Tony said. He’d already made improvements to Bucky’s arm socket, with Bucky’s permission, in preparation for this moment. A few more changes would have to be made to optimize the connections, but it wouldn’t take long. In time, Tony thought that the arm socket could be replaced entirely – but he knew Bucky wasn’t ready for that yet. It would mean at least one surgery, maybe more, and probably the help of someone like Helen Cho, since Tony wasn’t a medical doctor, but that could come later.

For right now, this arm was a huge step in the right direction and he was really looking forward to showing Bucky. But he was nervous too. He’d spent over a year developing new weaponry and armor and giving them to the Avengers, only to be mocked and ridiculed for his hard work. Logically he knew that their reactions had been because of Wanda’s influence, but it wasn’t always easy to convince himself of that.

It was hard to ignore the anxiety that inevitably built up when it came to giving people things now. Tony gritted his teeth and reminded himself that Bucky had _never_ said a bad thing about him. Not even when Tony lashed out and said that cruel thing about the arm that killed his parents being in his house. Bucky had only ever been quiet or unfailingly kind. Bucky deserved this.

“Go ahead and call Bucky down, FRI,” he said, proud when his voice came out steady. He moved forward and draped the plastic back over the arm, keeping it out of sight for the time being.

It didn’t take Bucky long to make his way down to the workshop. Much to Tony’s surprise, Bucky was carrying two plates piled high with sandwiches and potato chips. Tony blinked at him, then pulled out his phone to check the time. He winced when he saw that it was after midnight. He was pretty sure he’d missed a Stark Industries meeting. Pepper would be pissed.

“Figured you’d be hungry, since you missed dinner,” Bucky said easily, offering one of the plates to Tony. The sandwich was plump with chicken, bacon, tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, and cheese. Tony’s mouth watered and he quickly took it, inwardly cheering when he lifted the top piece of bread and saw mayonnaise with no butter.

“You’re the best,” he said, picking up a couple chips and cramming them into his mouth. His stomach ached as he swallowed, and he realized that he really was hungry.

“Can’t let our resident genius starve,” Bucky drawled with amusement, lifting up one of his own massive sandwiches. He bit into it and made a satisfied sound. He’d told Tony once that the Winter Solider had mostly existed on protein drinks and dehydrated food, and that was when he wasn’t being fed through an I.V. line. The first time he’d had a really good steak, he’d almost cried.

It was such a marked difference from Steve, who, in the beginning, had treated each meal with wariness. From what Tony had heard from Natasha, the doctors at SHIELD had had to coax Steve into eating meals that were actually big enough to sustain his metabolism, which required huge amounts of calories on a daily basis. Bucky, on the other hand, took to food and cooking and baking with an enthusiasm that was actually a little scary at times.

“Thanks,” Tony said through a mouthful of sandwich. It helped that Bucky was actually good at what he did, unlike certain other former Avengers who thought they were great cooks but weren’t (Clint). You only had to taste burned pasta once to ban Clint from the kitchen.

“So who’s next on your list to meet and greet?” Bucky asked. 

“Hope van Dyne and Scott Lang. The Wasp and Ant-Man,” Tony replied. Things between the Starks and the van Dynes were dicey at best, so Tony wasn’t actually sure how this one was gonna go. He’d made sure, when he reached out to Hope, that she knew he wasn’t interested in meeting with Hank. Not yet. Maybe not ever. 

He’d dealt with people who had been burned by Howard before: Ivan Vanko definitely came to mind, but there had been others as well. Those situations had never turned out in Tony’s favor, mostly because those people couldn’t look beyond Howard to see Tony. They were so wound up in their hatred of Howard that they just wanted someone to blame. Tony was _sick_ of that. He wasn’t his father.

When he’d first reached out, he’d actually thought that Hope might just hang up on him. They’d met a few times, but never spoken in detail and certainly never done business together. But Hope had agreed to meet with him right away, much to his surprise, and she’d even expressed an interest in joining the Avengers depending on what Tony had to say. She had had also agreed to extend the invitation to Scott Lang, and now Tony had a breakfast meeting with the two of them tomorrow morning at 9am. 

“You nervous?” Bucky asked, drawing Tony out of his thoughts.

“I never get nervous,” Tony lied, taking another bite of his sandwich.

Bucky just looked at him. “Want me to come?”

“God yes,” Tony said emphatically. “Would you? That would be amazing, Buck, thank you.”

“No problem. So long as you don’t think they’ll be run off by working with the Winter Soldier,” Bucky said, looking slightly uncomfortable. “You know – if I decide to join the team, that is.”

Tony smiled to himself, hiding it behind his sandwich. Bucky wasn’t cleared to be in the field yet. Actually, Tony technically wasn’t either. But he had the feeling that day would come soon for both of them, especially once someone else decided to attack New York. Now that the code words were officially removed from Bucky’s brain thanks to a combination of science and magic, Bucky didn’t consider himself to be dangerous anymore. That had been a huge step forward.

And while Bucky was still acting like he didn’t know whether he wanted to be an Avenger, Tony had the feeling that the answer was going to turn into a very solid yes as soon as the rest of the team was ready. Bucky liked being useful, he’d noticed, and he wanted to atone for the things he’d done as the Winter Soldier. Being an Avenger was the best way to make that happen.

“I’m sure they won’t mind,” he said by way of response. “And if they do, I don’t really wanna work with them either.”

He crammed the rest of his sandwich into his mouth while Bucky stared at him, because he couldn’t talk when his mouth was that full of food, and got up. He chewed his way through his mouthful while he checked the scans one last time. All of them still read 100%. Tony’s heart flutter with nerves, but he steeled himself. Backing out wasn’t an option right now.

“What’s going on?” Bucky said suspiciously.

“It’s the first day of the rest of your life, Buttercup,” Tony told him, and whipped the plastic off the arm.

Bucky dropped his plate. It hit the floor and shattered, sending the remains of a sandwich and chips across the floor, but Bucky didn’t even seem to notice. His eyes slowly widened until they looked like they were going to fall out of his head, and then he went so pale that Tony moved closer to him just in the event that he had to catch Bucky if Bucky fainted. But he didn’t. He just stood there and stared.

“Uh, Buck?” Tony said cautiously after about two minutes of total silence. He waved a hand in front of Bucky’s face. “You in there? Please don’t tell me I’ve broken you. After seventy years with Hydra, _I_ can’t be what broke you, I’ll never hear the end of it –”

“I’m not broken,” Bucky croaked finally. “I just – holy shit, Tony. That’s – this is –” He couldn’t seem to bring himself to finish.

“It’s your new arm,” Tony said, just in case it needed to be said, and gently picked the appendage up from the table. He held it out to Bucky. “It’s got a whole list of specs, which I’ll tell you about later, but it’s… yeah. Here you go.” He watched as Bucky reached out to touch it. When his fingers made impact, Bucky jumped and snatched his hand back looking like he’d seen a ghost.

“It’s warm!” he exclaimed.

“Well, yeah. I had the arc reactor in my chest for years. I know what it’s like to be attached to a piece of cold metal. Winter really sucked sometimes,” Tony said. And he knew how much Bucky loathed the cold, though now wasn’t the time to go into that. So he held the new arm up in his left hand and used it to give himself a high five with his right hand. Then, hopefully, he grinned at Bucky and wiggled his eyebrows.

Bucky burst out laughing, though it sounded unsteady, and shocked the hell out of Tony by pulling Tony in a hug. Tony froze for a moment, but then, just as Bucky was tensing, wrapping his arms around Bucky too. It was the first time that Tony could remember them hugging, but it was nice. He had the feeling that Bucky had missed out on a lot of hugs.

“Thank you,” Bucky said raggedly, hugging Tony so tight it almost hurt.

“You’re welcome. You deserve it,” Tony said, meaning it. Bucky deserved everything, even if he didn’t believe it. He gently patted Bucky’s back. “Ready to get rid of the big silver eyesore?”

Bucky chuckled again and let go, wiping quickly at his eyes. “Tony, you have _no idea_ how ready I am.”


	3. Chapter 3

The meeting with Hope and Scott started off kind of awkward. Tony was very aware of the tension in the air as the waiter showed them to their table. He waited for Hope and Scott to choose their seats and then sat, and was infinitely relieved when Bucky sat beside him. He’d almost forgotten how nice it could be when you had back-up in a tense or uncertain situation.

Once they had placed their orders, Hope folded her hands on the table. “I have to admit, I was surprised when you asked to meet with us, Mr. Stark,” she said, cutting straight to the point. “I never would have guessed that the Wasp and Ant-Man would gain the attention of the Avengers.”

“It’s Tony, please,” Tony said. “And I’m sure you’ve heard that the team is a bit of a mess right now. We’re actively looking for replacement members, and we need to find them quickly. That means finding people who have been in battle before and who are at least somewhat comfortable using their powers. In the future, I would love to mentor new superheroes. But that’s just not feasible at this point.”

“You said replacement. Does that mean Captain America is never coming back?” Scott asked.

The question hit with unexpected impact, leaving Tony momentarily speechless. He didn’t know what to say. He assumed that at some point Steve would rejoin the team, but he realized that he didn’t know that for sure. It wouldn’t happen until the therapist signed off saying that Steve’s mental health was improved enough to handle being on the field. And even then, Steve had voluntarily benched himself. It was hard to say whether or not _Steve_ would want to come back.

“That’s a question we don’t really have an answer to right now,” Bucky said smoothly. “Right now, Captain America, Falcon, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch aren’t available. That’s why Tony’s looking for new people.” Beneath the table, he gently nudged Tony with his foot.

The contact helped. Tony took a sip of his water and added, “If they did, it’s likely that the Avengers would be split into two separate rosters. Which I actually think is a more sustainable plan long term anyway, because it means that one team wouldn’t be constantly called upon for action. But like Bucky said, we don’t really know that right now. We’re focusing on protecting the city in the short-term, and we’ll work out the details later.”

“That’s unlike a businessman. I’d have thought you’d be someone who wanted to have all his ducks in a row,” said Hope.

“If being an Avenger has taught me anything, it’s that you can’t plan for every eventuality,” Tony told her with a wan smile. “I would love to be able to say that I’ve got everything worked out, but that would be lying to you. And frankly I’m not sure that’s the best start to any potential relationships, do you?”

Hope smiled slightly. “You’re not wrong, Tony,” she said. 

“I think it’s an awesome idea. The Avengers are the coolest,” Scott said enthusiastically.

“Can you tell us more about what Ant-Man and Wasp are capable of?” Tony asked, looking between them. “I’ve read the reports and I have the intel SHIELD has gathered, but that’s nothing like a first-hand account.”

Hope and Scott exchanged looks. They seemed to be one of those couples that were capable of having a conversation with facial expressions and body language alone. Tony sat back in his chair as the waiter appeared with their food, setting the plates down in front of each of them, and glanced over at Bucky. Bucky caught his eye and gave him a slight nod, which made Tony feel a lot more confident.

After the waiter had retreated, Hope cleared her throat. “I think we can do that, though of course there are some trade secrets we can’t give away. In return, we’d like to hear more about SHIELD and what’s _really_ been going on with the Avengers.”

“Of course,” Tony said, already mentally revising what he’d be able to tell them without first having them sign iron-clad NDAs. He picked up his knife and fork and tucked into his breakfast as Hope started to talk.

It was fascinating to learn more about the Ant-Man and Wasp suits, and Tony concealed a pang of wistfulness as he listened. If only his father hadn’t been such a stubborn, cocky asshole, there were so many more people that Stark Industries could’ve been working with. Hank Pym would never agree to that, though. The old man would probably have a coronary if he knew his daughter was even here. 

When Hope had finished, and was looking at him expectantly, Tony gave her an abbreviated version. “Scarlet Witch doesn’t have very good control of her powers. It was discovered that her powers were… leaking, for lack of a better word, and affecting the rest of the team.”

“What, you mean like giving them nightmares?” Scott asked.

“That, among other things,” Tony said. “I can’t give you the full details yet. I’m sure you understand.”

Hope nodded graciously. “Of course. And SHIELD?”

“SHIELD…” Tony shook his head and sighed. “To be honest, I don’t know myself. Depending on who I ask, I get a different answer. Officially they don’t exist anymore.”

“Unofficially?” Scott prompted. “I can’t do anything that’s gonna get me sent back to jail.”

Bucky spoke up then, and said, “The Avengers are fully sanctioned and separate from SHIELD. Phil Coulson has been helping us, but he’s the only one affiliated with SHIELD right now… if they even exist. You wouldn’t get in trouble.”

“I’m going to do some research into SHIIELD over the next few days. I can let you know what I find,” Tony said, sensing that Scott wasn’t wholly assuaged by what Bucky had said. Which was fair. SHIELD was kind of a question mark at this point. Tony was relying heavily on Coulson right now because, in spite of his better judgment, he still trusted Coulson. Furthermore, Coulson was the only one who had stepped up to offer his help. Considering how much Tony would’ve been floundering without him, that offer meant a lot.

“That would be appreciated,” Hope said. She sat quietly for a moment, her expression thoughtful, before she smiled. “Based on our conversation today, I’m feeling better about your proposition. Do you think you could set up a meeting for us with Coulson? I’d like to meet him.”

“Sure,” Tony said. “Actually, let me give you his contact information.” He took out his phone and sent her Coulson’s number and email address. 

Scott looked at him curiously. “You know, you’re nothing like what Hank says you are.”

“Scott!” Hope hissed.

Tony just shrugged. “Hank Pym doesn’t know me,” he said as matter-of-factly as possible. “He _thinks_ he knows me, because he knew my dad, but I’m not my dad and I never will be. Unfortunately, there are some potential partnerships that have been spoiled because people focus too much on my last name. I was hoping that you two might be able to overcome that.”

“I’m not my father either,” Hope said softly. She stood and reached out a hand. Tony stood too, and they shook. Then he shook hands with Scott, while Bucky and Hope shook – with Bucky’s human hand, Tony noticed. Finally, Scott and Bucky shook.

“We’ll be in touch,” Tony said, sitting again. He watched as Hope and Scott made their way to the front of the restaurant, already deep in conversation. 

“What do you think?” Bucky asked. 

“What do _you_ think?” Tony countered, genuinely curious. Bucky had remained silent during most of the conversation, only chipping in twice. But that didn’t mean he hadn’t been paying attention.

Bucky sipped from his glass of water, then said, “I think they’re a package deal for sure. They haven’t fought together much, but their powers compliment each other. Only taking one or the other would be a mistake, and frankly it’s unlikley that one will sign on without the other. Hope definitely runs things. Scott defers to her. You’d have to see whether or not she’s capable of taking orders on the field.”

“Good point,” Tony said, pleased. “They’ve never fought with a team before. We would have to practice.” He pretended not to notice the look Bucky gave him when he said ‘we’.

“But overall, I think they’ll be good for the Avengers. They both asked questions and weren’t afraid to share their opinions. Neither one seems like a yes man,” Bucky said. “Are you planning to make it official?”

“If Coulson agrees, most likely. I liked their attitude today,” Tony said. He was relieved that none of his fears had come to fruition. On the contrary, Hope in particular had been a lot more welcoming than he’d thought she might be. Plus, he thought she might actually understand where he was coming from. Tony wasn’t the only one who had grown up with an extremely opinionated father.

Bucky nodded. “So who’s next?”

“Next?”

“On your lift of people to recruit.”

“Oh, uh. I’m not sure. There were other people on Coulson’s short list, but none of them fit the Avengers as well as Spider-Man, Ant Man and Wasp do,” Tony said. “Daredevil, for example, was a solo show for a long time, but there’s a new group forming and I don’t think it would mesh well with the Avengers. Deadpool, on the other hand, is too much of a psychopath.”

“So it’s just the four of you? Five, if you count Strange?” Bucky said, eyebrows furrowed.

“Well. I guess. For now. And Rhodey, Vision, and maybe Bruce. And you.” Tony looked right at Bucky. “If you want to, there’s a space on the team.”

Bucky visibly swallowed, but all he said was, “Okay.”

“Okay,” Tony said back, deciding not to push it. “Plus, you know, Cap and Sam and Natasha are all technically Avengers. They may want to come back at some point. Frankly, I’ll be surprised if they don’t. Same goes for Clint, though it’s debatable as to whether he’ll ever be back in the right headspace to rejoin the team. Maximoff is the only one who was officially kicked out.”

“Hmm,” Bucky said. He didn’t make any other comment as they got up so that Tony could pay the bill. Tony was dying to know what he was thinking, but pushing Bucky typically didn’t yield the results that you wanted. 

They returned to the tower together, and Tony had just settled onto the couch with his tablet when Coulson showed up with a vaguely familiar woman behind him. Tony squinted at her, knowing that he had seen her somewhere before but not entirely sure where. She was young, probably in her early to mid twenties, with curly black hair down to just below her shoulders. 

“Hi. I’m Darcy!” she said, sticking a hand out to Tony.

Immediately, it clicked. “Darcy Lewis?” Tony checked.

“Yup!” She grinned and nodded.

“Darcy is going to help Vision get more… acquainted with human culture,” Coulson told Tony. 

Tony smiled knowingly. “Did Vision pop up out of the floor again?”

“I had just gotten out of a shower. I think I had a small heart attack,” Coulson said. “Darcy works with Jane typically, but Jane is busy with a conference right now.”

“She’s showing off the work she’s done on the Bifrost,” Darcy chimed in.

“Does that mean Thor is coming back?” Tony asked. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He and Thor had parted on officially amicable terms, and he hadn’t seen Thor sense. But he also hadn’t forgotten how it felt to have Thor’s hand around his neck, lifting him off the ground. 

Darcy shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. For his own sake, I hope not. Jane hasn’t seen him since he left and she’s _really_ mad about it.”

“Can’t blame her for that,” Tony said. “Well, welcome to the tower, Darcy. FRIDAY can help you with anything that you need. I’m sure you’ve been briefed on anything you need to know.”

“I’m good,” Darcy said, flashing him a smile. “Once you taze an Asgardian god, you kind of learn to roll with things.”

“You tazed Thor?” Tony repeated.

“Well, Jane hit him with her car first. But yes.”

Tony looked at her with new respect. “Do you still carry a tazer? Can I see it?”

“Are you gonna improve it?” Darcy asked.

“Am I gonna – please. I’m going to pretend that you didn’t just ask me that.” He took the offered tazer and swiftly examined it, then grinned. “I can soup this up so it can do some real damage if you like.”

Darcy’s eyes lit up. “Ooh. Yes, please!”

Behind her, Coulson sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I knew this was a mistake.”


	4. Chapter 4

The Compound seemed so _empty_. Steve shoved his hands in his pockets and just stood there for a long moment, listening. He could hear SHIELD agents in the outer rooms, but there was no one in the rooms immediately around him. It felt wrong. Not too long ago, Steve would’ve been standing smack dab in the middle of his team. He would’ve been spending his nights figuring out said team could best work together.

Now, Rhodes and Sam were both gone. Rhodes was with Tony, but Steve wasn’t wholly sure where Sam was. It had only occurred to him after Sam had left that Steve had never actually found out where Sam’s family was located. He assumed that’s where Sam had gone, but since Sam wasn’t answering his phone calls right now it was hard to know that for sure.

Wanda, of course, had been relocated to the Xavier Institute. She was still there; Coulson had assured Steve of that just yesterday. Natasha was… well, Steve literally had no idea where Natasha was. She could’ve been in Antarctica for all Steve knew. Most likely she was squirreled away in one of her safehouses, licking her proverbial wounds. So far as he’d been told, she hadn’t contacted anyone, not even Coulson or Clint, since she’d left.

Then there was Clint. The one picture Steve actually wished wasn’t here. He brought a hand up and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. Thanks to the serum Steve didn’t really get headaches anymore, but that didn’t stop the tension from building up. And Clint was a great source of that right now, to the point where Steve dreaded getting up every morning and seeing him and Laura. It was just so painfully awkward.

There was a knock at the door. Steve sighed, knowing it was one of two people, and said, “Yes?”

Much to his surprise, it wasn’t Clint or Laura at all. He had deliberately avoided thinking about the mandated therapy sessions he was supposed to be attending. So far, he hadn’t gone to a single one. Just the thought of having to talk to someone about what was going through his brain made him uncomfortable. So far, the issue hadn’t been pressed. Now, looking at Dr. Moore, he realized his luck had run out.

“Good morning, Mr. Rogers,” Moore said with a small smile.

It rankled to hear her call him by that name instead of Captain Rogers, which is what Steve was used to. Yet when he’d corrected her, she’d pointed out that technically the title was wrong. He’d never been a captain in the army. Captain America had originally been a stage name. And since he’d benched himself from the Avengers, he couldn’t even hide behind that at the moment.

“Good morning,” Steve said.

“I noticed that you missed our session yesterday. Would you like to reschedule?” Moore asked, as calmly as though they hadn’t had this conversation a dozen times now.

“Sure,” Steve said, because that was what everyone expected him to say, but he couldn’t resist adding, “Look, there’s really nothing wrong with me. I was able to break free of Wanda’s influence on my own. Strange confirmed she’s not controlling me anymore. You can sign me back onto the Avengers anytime. They need Captain America, you know.”

Moore didn’t even blink. “Mr. Rogers, it would be remiss of me to sign your papers when we haven’t even had a proper conversation. You’ve been through something very traumatic, even if you don’t think of it that way, and trauma can manifest in unusual ways. I can’t in good conscience send you out on the field before I believe you’re ready, as that would potentially mean putting your team and civilians at risk. And I know, as an experienced leader, that you wouldn’t want that to happen.”

“No, of course not,” Steve said through gritted teeth. She always had an answer for everything, didn’t she? Not unlike Tony. It was one of the few qualities Tony had that truly irked him. Steve had figured out a long time ago that you couldn’t always trust people like that. They had a habit of seeming in control of a situation until everything went balls up.

But he couldn’t very well say that to Moore. She was like a dog with a bone when it came to Steve attending therapy sessions, and he didn’t think telling her his opinion would change that. If anything, it would probably just make her worse. So he forced a smile and made an appointment for the next morning at 10am, even though he had very little intention of actually following through. It did make Moore go away, which was good enough.

He left the room shortly after, deciding that he was hungry enough to risk running into someone else that he didn’t want to see. It was late afternoon, so he’d missed the lunch rush. He looked at the options available to them and finally selected some sandwiches, then went over to a table and sat. He could feel the other people in the hall watching him, whispering to their companions. The attention made the hair on the back of his neck stand up, but he did his best to ignore it.

It surprised him when someone joined him, sliding into the seat across, but then he looked up and saw that it was just Laura. She looked very tired, just as she had from the moment Steve had first seen her at the farmhouse. But now there was something different about it. Like there was a weight on her that hadn’t been there before, bowing her shoulders and deepening the lines on her face.

“Hi,” Steve said, for lack of anything better to say. He didn’t know Laura that well, and everything had been such a mess lately that he hadn’t had the chance to talk much with her.

“Hi Steve,” Laura said with a thin smile, wrapping her small hands around a styrafoam cup of coffee. The cafeteria’s coffee was shit, Steve knew, either tasting more like coffee-flavored hot water or thick as sludge. Nothing like the coffee had been in the tower, when JARVIS always seemed to know exactly how long to let the coffee machine run to get the perfect consistency. 

He cast around for something else to say, and finally said, “So, how is… everything?”

Laura sighed. “That’s a million dollar question, isn’t it? I could go into great detail, but I’ll spare you the lecture and just say that it’s not good.”

Steve took a big bite of his sandwich for lack of anything else to say. Fortunately, Laura didn’t seem to expect him to continue the conversation. She lowered her head and stared into her cup, and Steve kept on eating. He could tell that Laura’s presence was helping to stave off some of the staring, and he appreciated that. She was probably the only person here who didn’t make him want to spending time in the gym punching bags.

“I think I’m going to go back home,” Laura said suddenly.

He almost choked. “W-what?”

“Me being here, I don’t think it’s helping. Clint doesn’t even want to talk to me anymore. He thinks that Tony has influenced me or something like that.” Laura paused and lifted her cup to her lips. Her hands were trembling. “I hate the thought of leaving him… but Dr. Moore says it might be good if he had some space to recuperate on his own. That maybe my presence is making him feel pressured.”

“That’s, uh, that’s too bad?” Steve said awkwardly, not sure what she was looking for. Reassurance? He wasn’t the right person for that. Why hadn’t she called Coulson?

“Yeah,” Laura said with a faint smile. “I have the kids to think about too. My sister has been taking care of them, but… it’s time I went home.” She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “Would you look after Clint for me, Steve? You might be the only person he trusts right now aside from Maximoff.”

The cold bitterness in Laura’s voice when she said Wanda’s name caught Steve off guard. He’d been expecting it from everyone else, except for Clint of course, but to hear it from Laura was still a surprise. She was usually so kind to everyone around her. It really drove home what Laura must have been going through, and for the first time Steve gave her his undivided attention.

“Of course I will, Laura,” he said. “I’m not sure how much Clint trusts me, though.”

“You’re still the leader of the Avengers in his eyes, and that means a lot,” said Laura quietly. “And you… you can relate to him on a level that I can’t. I’ve never been brainwashed before.”

Steve nodded. “I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

“Thank you,” Laura said. She reached out and touched his arm for a moment, then stood up and left the table. Steve watched her toss her barely touched cup of coffee in the garbage on her way out of the cafeteria, and thought to himself that by sunset Laura Barton would be gone from the Compound.

He wondered if Clint could see what he was losing. Did he even know that his marriage to Laura was hanging on by threads right now? Would he care if he knew? Or was he too preoccupied with worrying about Wanda to care about anything else? And even if he did, Steve wasn’t sure that Laura would. She seemed so _sad_ … but more than that, there had been a finality about her today that had never been there before.

He drummed his fingers on the table, staring down at the remains of his meal. Laura’s comment about him being the leader of the Avengers in Clint’s eyes niggled at him. Finally, he sighed and pushed himself up. He dumped the contents of his tray in the trash and left the cafeteria, heading to where he knew Clint would be: the archery range, shooting arrow after arrow at nearby targets.

“Come to gloat?” Clint said after Steve had been there for a couple minutes without speaking.

“No,” Steve said.

Clint snorted. “I find that hard to believe. Everyone else thinks I’m crazy.” He turned his head to look at Steve even as his fingers notched and released another arrow. Even without Clint looking, the arrow hit the bullseye.

“I don’t think you’re crazy,” Steve said, and he meant it. He thought that Clint was confused, and in denial, and just as frustrated as the rest of them, but crazy? No. Steve had seen crazy people in his time. Clint didn’t fit the bill for that.

“You’d be the only one. Even Laura…” Clint scowled and finally lowered his bow. His voice got quieter. “Even Laura’s given up on me.”

“Clint…” Steve sighed. “Laura’s a civilian. It’s harder for them.” He crossed his arms over his chest. 

“Yeah, sure. Laura wasn’t the one who was brainwashed twice,” Clint pointed out. “I need her support more than ever and she can’t even do that for me.” He turned to face Steve and slung his bow over his back. “They’re all trying to tell me that I’m wrong, Steve. But I don’t think I am. You know Wanda. How could someone so young and innocent do the things they say she did?”

“I don’t think Wanda meant to do it, Clint. She just… lost control,” Steve said. Honestly, he was no longer sure that was the case. He knew that Coulson and Strange believed that Wanda had done used her powers on the team on purpose, but they didn’t have any proof so far as Steve knew.

“Did she? Or is that just what they want you to think?” Clint asked. “You know, all this shit they’re throwing around and Wanda’s not even here to defend herself. You’d think they would at least give her a chance.”

“Wanda’s already had chances,” Steve pointed out, but he knew that was the wrong thing to say when Clint’s eyes hardened.

“I guess people who aren’t Stark only get limited chances, huh?” Clint said bitterly. “Fuck you, Rogers.” He shoved past Steve hard enough to make Steve stumble and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.


	5. Chapter 5

Something was wrong with Coulson. Even though he was pretending everything was fine, Tony knew Coulson well enough to recognize when something was off. He reclined in his chair and eyed at the agent as his P.A. brought in a tray of coffee and donuts. She set them down on the desk and left them alone with a quiet nod, closing the door behind her. Tony made his decision.

“So, you gonna tell me what’s wrong or do you just want me to guess?” he asked, picking up a mug and inhaling the bitter scent. He liked this P.A. She was getting good at reading his moods and figuring out how Tony would like his coffee without him needing to ask. This afternoon, when he was fatigued after a long morning of back-to-back meetings, she’d brought him a cup with two generous spoonfuls of sugar. He made a mental note to have Pepper give her a raise.

“Is there any point to me telling you that nothing is wrong?” Coulson asked dryly.

“Not really.”

“I didn’t think so. Laura decided to leave the Compound and go back home. She’s filing her divorce papers today.” Coulson had a pinched look on his face.

Tony whistled softly. He couldn’t say that Laura’s decision surprised him. She’d put up with a lot even before Clint became an Avenger, but she’d _really_ been tested in the past couple of years. The last several months, combined with the temporary hope that Clint wouldn’t be brainwashed anymore and then the crushing of that hope when Clint proved to be loyal to Maximoff regardless, had apparently been enough to push her over the breaking point. No one could blame her for that. 

“Yeah.” Coulson took a mug of coffee for himself and started tearing creamer open. “She went back to the farm by herself. I think she’s looking at selling it and maybe moving closer to the city. She finds the farm hard to run by herself without help.”

“You could go help,” Tony pointed out quietly, but Coulson shook his head.

“I’m needed here. Laura understands that. Besides, I’m not wholly sure where I would fit in. Being without Clint would be… difficult. She’s asked for time. We all need time.”

“I’m sorry,” Tony said. Laura was a good woman. Coulson and Clint were good men. They’d all made mistakes, some more than others, but none of them deserved this shitty situation. Tony wished there was a way he could help to fix things, but right now his presence would be the least helpful thing for Clint. Moore had confirmed just last night that Clint was still fixating on Tony as a source of all his problems. 

“Thanks,” Coulson said with a thin smile. “Knowing that we’re getting the Avengers ironed out is helping. If we can get Sharon on board, I think we’ll have a functional team to work with.”

Recognizing that Coulson wanted to change the subject, Tony nodded and rolled with it. “I agree. Agent 13’s resume is very impressive,” he added, looking down at the papers on his desk. Much of it was redacted, as was the SHIELD way, but that was fine. Tony had already hacked into SHIELD’s servers to get his hands on her actual resume. He wasn’t kidding when he said it was impressive. Agent 13 was well-versed in espionage and martial arts, and had proven herself to be a gifted marksman.

But it wasn’t her resume that Tony was concerned about. He knew Sharon quite well – or rather, he _used_ to know her well, before she joined SHIELD and cut off most of her family. Tony could still remember that golden-haired little spitfire who used to run towards him and call him ‘Uncle Tony’… the one who had been absolutely besotted with Captain America because of the stories Peggy would tell her. 

Like Tony, Sharon had grown up having the stories of Captain America being spoonfed to her. But unlike Tony, who had eventually tired of being constantly compared to a dead hero, Sharon had never stopped loving those stories. Tony wasn’t sure if she could be an impartial member of the Avengers. It helped that Rogers was no longer on the team, but could they trust her to be loyal to the Avengers? Or would Sharon’s heart forever remain loyal to Captain America? The latter would be a huge problem and was nothing something they needed to deal with right now.

“Yes, it is. Technically, she’s working for the CIA right now. We’ve loaned her out. But we have other agents in mind who can take her place if she turns out to be a good fit for the team,” Coulson said. He looked over at Tony. “You seem skeptical.”

“I’m not skeptical, exactly,” Tony said slowly. “I have some… reservations.”

“Care to share them?” Coulson asked. 

Tony exhaled and looked him right in the eye. “I’ve had more than my fair share of working with people who are loyal only to Captain America, and who value that loyalty over literally everything else. I know that Maximoff was a huge part of the problem, but let’s be honest. The more I think about the Avengers, the more I realized that I never fit in with the original team. They all formed their opinions about me before they even met me, and none of those opinions were good. I’m sick of that, Agent.”

Coulson was quiet for a moment, both hands cupped around his mug. Then he said, “I appreciate where you’re coming from, but you’re also Tony Stark. Finding someone who doesn’t come with a formed opinion of you is going to be next to impossible unless we start looking for more aliens.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I want us recruiting people who actively hate me or who have their opinions of me poisoned already. No offence, but Barton, Romanov and Rogers all came to the Avengers by way of SHIELD and all three of them had problems with me from day one. I’m trying not to have a knee-jerk reaction to the idea of having another SHIELD agent join us, but it’s not easy,” Tony said.

“But you’re willing to hear what Agent 13 has to say?” Coulson asked.

“Yes. I’m sure you’re aware that Sharon and I have a past,” Tony said, and Coulson nodded. “If she’s got the same spark she used to have, she’d be an excellent addition to the team. But I’m not working with any more Avengers who are more loyal to Captain America than they are to our team in general. It’s just not worth it; it always ends up blowing up in my face somehow.”

“Interesting then that you’re willing to work with Bucky Barnes,” Coulson commented. “Most people would assume that he would be more loyal to Captain America than anyone.”

“Well, they would assume wrong,” Tony said shortly. He and Bucky hadn’t really talked a lot about Steve, but Tony got the definite sense that Bucky was not happy with how his oldest and dearest friend had handled everything. He strongly suspected that the next time Steve and Bucky met, there were going to be some fireworks.

“Hmm,” Coulson said non-committedly, a knowing look in his eyes. Tony frowned at him, but Coulson just turned away and took a sip from his mug. 

There was a knock at the door then, and Tony’s P.A. stuck her head in to let them know that Sharon had arrived. Tony stood automatically, buttoning his suit jacket. He was uncustomarily nervous in a way he hadn’t been with any of the other potential members he’d met. Maybe because there was a history between him and Sharon, or maybe because she was Peggy’s niece. Failing her would feel a little too much like failing Peggy.

The door opened and Sharon entered. She was dressed in a very smart, tailored grey suit with a blue blouse that matched her eyes perfectly. Like Pepper, she favored tall heels that actually made her a couple inches taller than Tony. But Tony was used to everyone towering over him, and he wasn’t bothered by it as he stepped forward and shook her hand. 

“Good morning, Agent 13,” said Coulson. “Please sit.”

Sharon did, taking a seat in front of the desk. Her hair was loose around her shoulders. From what Tony remembered, she’d always hated wearing her hair up. He could remember many days where he’d drop by Peggy’s house and find Sharon running around with her hair half-braided, while her poor mother chased her and yelled at Sharon to stop. Peggy usually just sat back and laughed. The memory brought a small smile to Tony’s face.

“How do you feel about the Avengers Initiative?” he asked bluntly.

“Favorably,” Sharon said without hesitation, apparently un-bothered by the fact that they were jumping straight in. “I think that the Avengers have done a lot for the planet, and in particular New York. We’d all be dead right now if you hadn’t flown that nuke through the portal.”

Tony cocked his head. “Are you trying to flatter me?”

She smirked. “It’s not flattery if you acknowledge a basic truth,” she said. “The world needs a superhero team like the Avengers.”

“We agree,” Coulson said. “As I’m sure you’re aware, right now the Avengers are in desperate need of some new members.”

“I heard,” Sharon said, but offered no further details as to just how much she’d heard. Knowing the SHIELD gossip mill, she probably knew the whole story by now.

“Then you know that Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Falcon are benched,” said Tony. “Right now it’s me, War Machine, and Vision, with some back-up from the Winter Soldier and Bruce Banner.” He leaned forward. “I have spoken to a few different superheroes about joining the team. We’re looking at Ant-Man, Wasp and Spider-Man, with back-up from Stephen Strange where necessary. I think it’s a well-rounded team, but Agent feels we need someone with a more… down-to-earth skill set on the team.”

“That sounds sensible,” Sharon said. She crossed one leg over the other. “Is that where I come in?”

“That’s where you potentially come in,” Coulson corrected. “I’ve been through the SHIELD files on active agents. I think you fit the Avengers best. But there are some reservations.”

“Like what?” Sharon asked.

“Like whether or not the Avengers will fit you,” said Tony.

Sharon frowned slightly. “I’m not sure I understand what you mean.”

“I know how you feel about Captain America,” Tony said quietly. “He is not a part of the team right now, but there is a possibility in the future that he’ll return to active duty. At that time, he may or may not resume being the leader of the Avengers. Anyone who is an Avengers needs to be able to deal with that. We can’t have people on the team who are only there because of Cap.”

“I will listen to whoever my team lead is,” Sharon said, her eyes flashing. “That’s what all SHIELD agents would do.”

Tony pointed a finger at her. “That attitude right there? That’s a problem. I don’t want someone who’s going to skulk around and only do shit she’s told to do. Romanov and Barton made good Avengers because they weren’t your typical agent. I like that about you, but.” He put his hands down and leaned forward. “Basically, Sharon, I have to know. Can you respect me as your teammate and leader right now? Because if you can’t, and you’ll always be double-checking to see what Cap’s doing or to see if he approves of what I’m doing, then you’re not the right fit for this.”

“You have to be able to remember that the Avengers are all normal people, including Captain America. Not legends,” Coulson said, which made Tony snort. He quickly schooled his face when Coulson scowled at him.

Sharon didn’t say anything at first, but her expression wasn’t one of anger – she looked thoughtful, which made Tony hope that she was actually thinking about what they’d said. He held his breath, realizing that he wanted Sharon on the team. Agent 13 would make a nice addition, and be a valuable resource when it came to more covert missions. But it all hinged on her answer.

Finally, Sharon gave a sharp nod and looked up. “I can do it. I want to be an Avenger.”


	6. Chapter 6

“How are you today, Mr. Barton?”

“How am I?” Clint slowly turned away from the windows to stare at Moore. She was looking at him the way she always did, with that calm, inscrutable expression that sometimes made Clint want to break something just to get a genuine reaction out of her. But even if he did that, he was pretty sure she would just ask him how he’d felt while he was doing it.

Part of him wanted to just laugh at the question. How would _anyone_ be after being told that their wife was leaving them? The short answer was best summed up as ‘fucking devastated’. He couldn’t believe that Laura was giving up on their relationship. They’d gone through so much together. She’d said something about this being the last straw, but Clint didn’t even understand what she meant by that.

He decided that was as good an answer as any, and said, “I’m confused. Laura didn’t really explain to me why she was doing this.”

“What did she say?” Moore asked.

“She said that this whole situation was the last straw, and that she was tired of waiting for me to put her and the kids first.” Clint shook his head incredulously. “Doesn’t she understand that I always put her and the kids first? Every goddamn thing I do is for my family. All those years I put in at SHIELD, all those missions that I went on, that wasn’t for fun! It was so I could get a paycheck to keep a shelter over their heads and food on the table.”

Moore closed her book and folded her hands on top of it. “Being a single parent must be difficult,” she said. “Is it possible that’s put a strain on your wife?”

“She wasn’t a single parent, but… yeah, I guess. Maybe.” Clint crossed his arms over his chest and scowled. “But Laura knew that when she married me! I made it very clear to her that being a SHIELD agent meant I’d have to go on missions and stuff like that. You can’t always end a mission in the span of a day! And when I joined the Avengers, we talked about what that would mean for us. She knew that I would have to be in close proximity to the team. I tried to go home as much as I could. It just wasn’t good enough. Nothing I did was good enough!”

The room was quiet for a moment after his exclamation. Clint was surprised to find that he was breathing hard. He sank back in his chair, a little startled by what he’d said. He hadn’t realized that Laura made him feel that way, but it was the truth. No matter what he did, she always wanted more. She wanted him to be a better dad and a better husband while simultaneously being a better agent to bring home more money. Those three things weren’t always congruent. 

“In our last session, you talked about your wife and kids some,” Moore said finally. “You mentioned that it’s been seven months since you last went home.”

“What?” Clint said. “No, that’s not – wait.” He counted on his fingers and was shocked to realize that was actually correct. 

“How does that make you feel?” Moore asked.

“I… I don’t know.” Clint frowned down at his hands. It was hard to believe that time had gotten away from him like that. He really had intended to spend more time on the farm, but… it was just so _boring_. Nothing at all like the high stakes life he was used to. He loved his wife and kids, but there was just something about waking up in the morning and not knowing what was going to happen that was addictive.

He supposed he could understand Laura’s feelings a bit better in that respect, though. How much time he spent away from home had always been a point of contention, but that had only worsened as the kids got older. While she was pregnant with Nate, she’d made him promise that he would be around to help. But still, Clint had an important job. Lives could be lost if he didn’t bother to show up to a mission. Couldn’t she understand that too?

Moore waited for him to speak. When he didn’t, and the silence had dragged on for a couple of minutes, she said, “Did Laura say anything else?”

“She brought up Wanda,” Clint muttered. “I don’t get her attitude towards Wanda. If I didn’t know better, I would think she’s jealous. But Laura’s not like that.” He ran his hands through his hair and shook his head. “She’s like the rest of them. Thinks that Wanda is the one who did something wrong.” He couldn’t stop the bitterness from seeping into his voice.

He still didn’t believe that for a second. Wanda was a _good kid_. Why couldn’t people understand that? Stark was the problem here. From day one, Stark had proven that he couldn’t be trusted. He’d created Ultron for crying out loud! Yet suddenly, it was like everyone had forgotten about that. Why was it that Stark’s ledger kept getting wiped clean? Wasn’t anyone ever going to hold _him_ accountable? When would Stark’s seemingly endless list of second chances finally run out?

“If you think Laura’s not like that, why do you think she’s jealous?” Moore asked.

“Obviously it’s because Stark’s brainwashed her somehow,” Clint said hotly. To his mind, it was the only explanation that really made sense. Laura had been a perfectly reasonable woman before she started talking to Stark so much. Clint regretted the day that he’d taken the Avengers to his farmhouse. He should’ve known better. No matter how dangerous Ultron was, introducing Tony Stark to his family remained one of the biggest mistakes of his life.

Moore frowned at that. “So you think Mr. Stark is responsible for your divorce?”

“I… well, yes,” Clint said. When she put it like that, it sounded so reasonable. 

“I see.” Moore opened her book again and began writing. The sight of her pen moving across the page pissed Clint off for some reason, though he couldn’t have said why. 

“I’m done for the day,” he announced, getting to his feet. He ignored Moore’s surprised expression and stalked out of the room. Some days he could tolerate sitting there talking to her, and some days he couldn’t. Today was the latter. 

He realized that he wanted to be alone. No, that he _needed_ to be alone. He just needed a few minutes without someone staring at him and trying to analyze his every response. And you couldn’t get that in the Compound; there were just too many people around. So Clint headed back to his room and picked up his archery gear, then left through a side door and headed for the nearby woods. It wasn’t the archery range, but trees could be decent targets if you made things difficult enough.

His skin prickled as he stepped into the clearing, the hair on the back of his neck lifting. Clint slowed to a stop, all senses on high alert. He knew enough about the forest to know when something was wrong. It was never a good sign when you entered a wooded area and couldn’t hear any animals at all, not even the chirp of a bird. Usually that meant there was a predator nearby.

“Hi Clint.”

Clint whirled around in surprise, putting an arrow to his bow in one smooth move. It took him a few seconds to register who was standing about ten feet behind him, and when he did he sagged and let the bow slide off his shoulder with a nervous laugh. Wanda gave him an embarrassed, somewhat shy smile and shrugged with both of her hands turned palm up, just the way she always used to, and Clint laughed again.

“God, kiddo, you scared the daylights outta me. Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to sneak up on an Avenger?” He grinned at her to show her that he wasn’t really upset and slid the arrow back into the quiver on his back.

“I don’t see any Avengers around here,” Wanda said softly. “I see someone who used to be an Avenger and got kicked off the team thanks to Stark.”

His smile fell as fast as it had come. “Yeah, that’s about the gist of it, isn’t it? Things were going good there for a while, but it all fell apart as soon as Stark decided to stick his nose into things. Now Rhodes and Vision are both gone. Sam took off and hasn’t been in contact. Natasha’s run off to god knows where. Steve is still here, but all he thinks about is himself.”

Wanda had flinched a little when Vision’s name was mentioned. She drew closer, clasping her hands in front of her. “I miss how things used to be,” she confessed. “I miss being a part of a team. You promised me that, Clint.”

“I did, didn’t I?” Clint said, feeling a flicker of guilt. He remembered that moment. Kneeling in that burned-out house, looking at her and Pietro. Telling them that if they walked out the door, they were Avengers and needed to act like it. He’d never thought his words would come back to haunt him like that. Now Pietro was dead, and Wanda was being held up as the sole reason for everyone’s problems. 

“The X-Men don’t treat me like I’m part of their team. They’re all mean to me,” Wanda went on, tears filling her eyes.

Clint’s heart broke for her. He closed the remaining distance between them and pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have let them take you there, but I didn’t get a say.”

She snuggled down into his arms and gave a quiet sob. “It was so awful. I couldn’t stand being there anymore. I had to leave. I didn’t want to go right up to the Compound, though. I was worried that Steve might see me and send me back.” 

“I wouldn’t let him,” Clint said fiercely. 

“He wouldn’t give you a choice,” Wanda said, looking up at him tearfully. “Steve’s been swayed by Stark. He thinks that I’m… that I’m _evil_.” She sobbed again. “Just because I don’t have full control over my powers. Are they right? Am I bad?”

“No!” Clint said instantly, grabbing her shoulders. “You’re not bad, Wanda. You’ve been given a bad hand in life, sure, but you’re making the best of it. People like Stark just don’t understand that, but I do.”

Wanda lifted a hand to wipe a few tears away. “I knew you’d understand,” she said with a tiny smile. “That’s why I came here to find you.”

“It’s gonna be okay,” Clint said. “We’ll figure something out.”

“It’s all Stark’s fault,” Wanda whispered.

Clint nodded. “You’re not wrong.”

“Things would be better if he was gone, don’t you think?” Wanda said, taking a step back. “You can’t trust people like Stark to ever make good decisions. If he wasn’t around, then we wouldn’t have to worry about him showing up and making things worse, or trying to create another Ultron.”

“Well…” Clint said uncertainly.

“It just scares me so much! The idea of another Ultron…” Wanda shuddered. “Who knows what Stark is capable of? He’ll do anything to further his own agenda. I don’t want anyone else to be let an orphan, like me.” More tears trickled down her cheeks. “I miss my parents every day. I miss my brother every day. All of them would still be here if it weren’t for Stark. I’d still have a happy family.”

“So would I,” Clint whispered, more to himself than to her. She looked so small and fragile, sobbing in the woods with nowhere to go. 

And she wasn’t exactly wrong, was she? Everything had been fine before Stark showed up with Strange and started spreading all those crazy ideas about Wanda around. There was no way Wanda was using her powers to mind control people! It just wasn’t possible. Wanda wasn’t evil. She was just a kid. A crying, scared, lonely little kid who had lost her whole family. A kid not unlike Clint’s kids.

He set his jaw. “I’ll come with you. We’ll go somewhere. I have money stashed away.”

“You will?” Wanda said, her eyes wide. “Really?”

“Yes, really. I won’t leave you alone, Wanda. Teammates gotta stick together.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, kissing her forehead. “We’ll figure things out.”

“Oh Clint, thank you so much,” Wanda gushed, flinging her arms around his neck. “I’ve been so lonely.”

“I know,” Clint said, hugging her tightly. “But it’ll be okay from now on.”

“Yes,” Wanda murmured in his ear. “It will be.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](https://tsuki-chibi.tumblr.com/).


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